“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Matthew 5:13
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
I was riding one of Japan’s Bullet Trains when a fine looking young fellow sat down beside me. He was interested in talking to a “foreigner,” so I easily engaged him in conversation. But when I turned the conversation to spiritual things, he said, in essence, “Pardon me, but I can’t believe the Bible!”
I inquired what his problem was, and he answered, “I’m a chemistry student, and can prove to you that it’s impossible for salt to lose it’s savor!” Not being able to answer him, our conversation came to a close without me having a chance to bring the Word of God to his attention. He had written off the entire Bible because of one verse.
For a long time I could find no answer to his problem. Then one day I was reading a commentary in which I found an explanation.
In the days of our Lord on this earth, ovens were made in a large beehive shape from clay. There was no chimney, but the fire was built directly in the oven, and, after it was heated, the ashes were swept out and the bread put in. The whole was made with double walls and the space filled with rock salt. This salt held the heat after the fire was gone and accomplished the baking of the bread.
I knew that salt holds heat. Many a time when I was a lad I had earaches, my mother would make a bean bag and fill it with salt. After heating it in the oven, she would wrap it in a towel and it would give heat all night long.
But the explanation continued to say that after long usage, the salt would no longer hold the heat. Then they would break the wall of the oven and take out the salt, which by then had lost its usefulness to them. It was “good for nothing,” and was thrown away.
I have been waiting many years for someone to bring up this problem again, but no one has! However, it reminds me that the Word of God is true in everything it affirms.
After a few years in Japan, I came home on furlough and met a dear saint of God who was a farmer. I was explaining to him how God had given me the answer to this problem when he said, “I can give you another way in which salt can lose its savor. If you plant cabbages, you must watch out for cut-worms. They wil| eat away the stem of the cabbage until it falls over and the whole head is lost.
“There is one way to prevent this. You must sprinkle a circle of salt around the base of the young cabbage plant and the worm will not cross it. However, after a few days you must renew the salt, for, when it comes into contact with the earth, it loses it savor!”
I would submit to you that, in the oven, we can have the loss of effectiveness by the heat of trials, and surely the Lord Himself can keep us from that. But we ourselves must watch out for the second way we may lose our savor; namely, by close contact with the things of this earth. After all, “Ye are the salt of the earth!” If salt isn’t salty, what is?